The Minnesota Department of Transportation hopes to begin construction early next year on a $15.66 million rehab of the Highway 2 Kennedy Bridge over the Red River between East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, North Dakota. (Submitted photo: MnDOT)

Historic Hwy. 2 bridge over Red River up for rehab

The historic Highway 2 Kennedy Bridge, a key link between Minnesota and North Dakota over the Red River, will soon get a new pier and bridge deck as part of a nearly $16 million rehab.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation hopes to begin work in early 2017 on the project, which is intended to improve safety and prolong the life of the 53-year-old crossing between East Grand Forks, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, the bridge is considered historically significant in part because of its unusual design, which includes two 279-foot-long steel Parker truss spans, according to MnDOT’s April 2014 Kennedy Bridge planning study.

The truss is named after engineer C.H. Parker, who was associated with its design in the mid-19th century, according to a historic bridge webpage from the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Among those bridges, most of the trusses are 40 to 250 feet long so the Highway 2 bridge is at the “upper end” of that range, according to a MnDOT document.

MnDOT opened bids for the project in early December. Zenith Tech Inc., a Waukesha, Wisconsin-based structural engineering and construction company, had the apparent low bid of $15.66 million. MnDOT’s estimate was $18 million.

MnDOT classifies the bridge as “fracture critical,” which means the bridge could collapse if a structural component fails. The fracture critical designation makes it a “higher priority” for inspection and maintenance, according to a study.

As part of the project, crews will replace the deck and one of the bridge’s three piers. The crossing will also get new paint and aesthetic lighting, and separate trails for bicycles and pedestrians.

Paul Konickson, MnDOT’s District 2 bridge engineer and project manager, said one of the piers on the North Dakota side of the 1,261-foot-long Highway 2 bridge has shifted about 2 ½ feet over the years.

The pier has been “adjusted” in the past but the time has come for a more permanent fix, he said.

“That is one of the major issues,” Konickson said. “It’s beyond the design capacity now so it needs to be replaced.”

Konickson said the bridge will be jacked up and lifted off the existing “Pier 6” and set down on a temporary pier. After the old pier is demolished, crews will build the new pier and put the bridge back in place.

The deck will be replaced one half at a time, starting with the south side, he said. MnDOT plans to keep a lane open in each direction throughout most of the project, though there will be some short-term closures, he said.

Fabrication work could begin in January, Konickson said. Field work will have to wait until mid-March, though that start date is dependent on water-level conditions in the river, he said.

The four-lane Highway 2 bridge carries 23,000 vehicles per day and is expected to reach 30,000 by 2040, according to MnDOT. Two other Red River bridges, each with two lanes of capacity, also serve the area.

Jason Stordahl, public works director for the city of East Grand Forks, said the Highway 2 bridge is an important crossing.

Both cities were able to “put in their two cents” about the project as plans developed, Stordahl said. One thing East Grand Forks really wanted was a pedestrian walkway, something the existing bridge lacks, he added.

Stordahl said the plan is to take out a center median and shift lanes to the south to make room for a pedestrian walkway on the north.

As part of a planning study launched in 2013, MnDOT and the North Dakota Department of Transportation considered options ranging from full replacement of the bridge to a rehab.

The rehab was selected as a “lower cost alternative” that also increases safety for motorists and other bridge users, according to the project website. The project will be paid for with funding from both states and the federal government, MnDOT said.